My cousin’s husband, Charlie Seymour, is a first grade teacher at James Monroe Elementary School in Santa Rosa, CA. Charlie is a rarity these days—he is the only male teacher at his school, and one of the few men teaching in his county. That makes Charlie part of the scant 9 percent of males who are elementary school teachers according to the most recent research available by the National Education Association. Only 24.9 percent of the nation's 3 million teachers are men.

When I saw Charlie last week, I could tell by the way he spoke about his job that he was a dedicated teacher. In the beginning of the summer, he taught remedial kindergarten for those students who didn’t have basic skills learned in kindergarten. Like many teachers, he was worried about the effects of NCLB on his students and the way he teaches; he mentioned that his students were being taught from a typical third-grade curriculum to meet adequate yearly progress. Charlie didn’t seem to mind that he was part of a profession dominated by women; he had more important things to think about.

Men aren’t the only minority in the teaching profession. African-Americans, particularly men, are also a scarcity. In Florida, for example, black men made up 3.2 percent of Florida teachers last fall according to a recent article in the Tallahassee Democrat. According to the article, low starting salaries was the most frequently cited reason that black men do not go into teaching.

So the stats are a little dismal. There is some hope, however: “Call Me Mister”, a program based at Clemson University in South Carolina, recruits, trains, certifies and finds jobs for black male teachers in the state’s public elementary schools where black men make up less than 1% of the elementary teaching community. The young men who become ‘Misters’ do not only represent a dedication to making a difference, but they also represent an accessible role model for kids who idealize athletes and entertainers.

I’m calling these young men ‘hope.’